Waterways Fishing Series: Lake Guntersville

Mar 31, 2023

The goal of our trip was to fish and get away from daily life commitments. We started looking for destinations where we knew the fishing would be great in March. After some research, we found that Lake Guntersville was within a five-hour drive and checked all the boxes for a fishing destination. So we booked our stay at the Days Inn, loaded the trailer, and were off on what I didn't realize would be a trip of a lifetime.

We soon arrived at the boat ramp that afternoon and began to assemble our kayaks. Shortly after pushing off, we made our way to what appeared to be the nearest grass line. It would be our first-time fishing Alabama grass, and to say it would be challenging was an understatement. We broke rods, bent hooks, and might have said a few explicit words. Soon though, we would learn the technique of fishing grass, and suddenly, we were on. Craig would connect first with a solid fish and then turn that momentum into three fish in the first hour. The rest of us would struggle but eventually find a wacky worm bite later in the evening to put us on the board

As we got off the water, there was a loud crunch as Craig begin to put the rods in the rod tube. My rod had gotten snagged with a treble hook which would, unfortunately, break the rod tip. The following day, we visited Waterfront Tackle to replace the rod. Upon arrival, I immediately understood why this place is a must-visit when you are in Guntersville. From rods to baits, they had everything you have ever dreamed of as an angler. After lots of drooling, we made our purchases and made our way to the boat ramp.

The second day would consist of fishing Battle Creek, a Lake Guntersville tributary. Jonathan had received some intel in the kayak community that it had been fishing well. As we arrived at the put-in, we soon realized that this water section was massive. We would put lines in right off the bat, and to no surprise, Craig was on a fish. We then would fish for nearly six hours without even a bite. Some of us were ready to give up, but I got my second wind and kept fishing. I soon would connect with a solid fish which would give me some confidence that I was in the right area. A few minutes later, I would set the hook and realize I had hooked a giant. The fish ran under the kayak and gave me a good run for my money, but I turned her and got her in the net. When I glanced at the fish, I soon realized I had landed my personal best at six pounds even. As the wind picked up, we decided getting off the lake and taking a breather would be best.

During dinner, we came to realize it would be a full moon that evening so we decided to do some night fishing. We would put in right at sunset with smiles from ear to ear as we had the whole lake to ourselves. By then, we had dialed in our chatter bait setups and used the ½ oz Jack Hammer from ZMAN paired with the Hog Farmers Bait Spunk Shad. You can read more about the baits we used in the Pre-Spawn Article written earlier this month. We would fish well into the night, and the fish kept biting.

On the last day, we would wake up sore, sunburnt, and groggy from the previous days. We made our way to Mud Creek as we had always wanted to fish this location. On this day, Zane and Jonathan would excel at this destination by catching fish on finesse techniques. Craig would cover lots of water that day and eventually find a solid chatter bait bite in the early afternoon. We headed back to the boat ramp later that evening in awe of how excellent a fishery can be.

The car was full of laughs and fishing stories as we went home to North Carolina. Over three days, we had done nearly twenty-six miles in the Feel Free Lure 11.5 Kayak and caught well over thirty inches of fish each. While this trip is in the rearview mirror, we look forward to the next one.

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Written by Jake Smith, Feelfree US Marketing

Photography by Jake Smith

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Jake's Lure 11.5 Adventure Build

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